Josquin Desprez (c1450/1455-1521)
Josquin in Poland
Ensemble Jerycho/Bartosz Izbicki
rec. 2023, Basilica of St John the Baptist and St Roch, Brochów, Poland
Texts and translations included
DUX 2064 [78]
Josquin Desprez was the most famous composer of his time, and he still is considered the main composer of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. His music is regularly performed. There is no lack of recordings, either. I assume that his entire oeuvre is available on disc. However, there is still a thing or two that is to be discovered, as the disc under review shows.
This recording attests to the dissemination of Josquin’s music across Europe. The Ensemble Jerycho documents the reception of Josquin’s music in Poland, which he never visited, but already in his lifetime his music was known and performed there. The programme brings us to the time after his death, and to Cracow. The inventory of Wawel Cathedral of 1559 refers to the Cantionale in folio motetarum Josquini, which the Rorantist College undoubtedly used for liturgical performances.
King Sigismund I ‘the Old’ (1467-1548) was a great patron of the arts. He wanted to secure his place in the cultural history of his country with a sepulchral chapel in Wawel Cathedral in Cracow. He also founded the Collegium of Rorantists (Cappella Rorantistarum) whose duty was to sing in his chapel a Rorate Caeli mass every day. At the beginning, the Rorantists were a national ensemble, which consisted of priest-singers and composers who sang Polish music, but also pieces by the leading composers of the time. In the course of time, composers from elsewhere who settled in Poland also joined the Rorantists.
The Missa Mater Patris may also have been copied for performance by the Rorantist College. Published by Petrucci in Venice, it included in the Missarum Josquini Liber tertius of 1514 (reprinted in 1516 and 1526). This remarkable work is the only mass in which Josquin quotes music of a contemporary, Antoine Brumel (c1460-1512/1513). Peter Phillips, in the liner notes to his recording of this mass (review), suggests that the two composers were close, and that this mass is a homage by Josquin to his colleague, probably written shortly after Brumel’s death. It is a parody mass, based on Brumel’s motet Mater Patris.
The present disc refers to this mass with a different title: Missa Mater Matris. The reason is not entirely clear, but as this mass was arranged, the composer responsible for it, Krzysztof Borek, may have felt that this was the way to show that it was not identical with what Josquin had written. From 1547, Borek worked at the Polish royal court as a singer. By 1558 he was praepositus of the Cappella Rorantistarum at Cracow Cathedral; he apparently held this post until his death around 1570.
Borek did not add entirely new music, but added parts to episodes for two voices, which frequently appear in Josquin’s masses. “Perhaps these duets seemed anachronistic to Borek, or maybe the Wawel Cathedral simply preferred the full sound of the band”, Bartosz Izbicki states in his liner notes. Here and there the liturgical text is distributed differently, and Borek also made some cuts. Several sections are omitted: Pleni sunt caeli, Benedictus and Agnus Dei II. They are added here in the original scoring by Josquin. Moreover, the mass is performed in a liturgical framework.
That is not all that is notable about this recording. The way of singing by the Ensemble Jerycho is also highly unusual. If one has the sound of ensembles such as The Tallis Scholars or other ‘Western’ ensembles in mind, these performances may come as quite a shock. The low voices dominating, and that reflects the fact that the Rorantist College consisted of adult male singers (and the pitch of polyphony was not fixed and therefore could easily be adapted). The singing is rather loud and powerful. It reminds me of the style of Russian Orthodox singing. So what we have here is not only “Josquin in Poland” but also Josquin in Polish style, at least the style that may have been practised by the Rorantist College.
The plainchant is basically sung in the same style as the polyphony. In the communio Ecce virgo concipiet parts are added, and in the offertorio Ave Maria a solo voice sings a florid line above a long-held tenor in the bass. It is the same procedure as in the anonymous Alleluia Ora pro nobis sancta Dei genitrix.
This release is quite fascinating. Not only does it document the reception of Josquin’s music after his death, especially in Poland, but it also tells us something about the way written-out music was adapted to local needs. Moreover, the performances confirm that the way music was performed, and vocal techniques, differed from one part of Europe to the other. That aspect of performance practice is given too little attention. From that angle, this disc is not only of interest to Josquin lovers, but to anyone interested in Renaissance music in general.
Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen
Contents
plainchant
[introitus] Vultum tuum
Josquin Desprez (c1450/1455-1521)
Vultum tuum a 4
Josquin Desprez, arr. Krzysztof Borek (?-c1570)
Missa Mater Matris a 4 [Missa Mater Patris]:
Kyrie
Gloria
Antoine Brumel (c1460-1512/1513?):
Mater patris et filia a 3
anonymous
[Alleluia] Ora pro nobis sancta Dei genitrix
Josquin Desprez, arr. Krzysztof Borek
Missa Mater Matris [Missa Mater Patris]:
Credo
plainchant
[Offertorium] Ave Maria
Josquin Desprez, arr. Krzysztof Borek
Missa Mater Matris [Missa Mater Patris]:
Sanctus
Josquin Desprez
Honor et benedictio a 4
Missa Mater Patris a 4:
Pleni sunt caeli
Benedictus
Josquin Desprez, arr. Krzysztof Borek
Missa Mater Matris [Missa Mater Patris]:
Agnus Dei
plainchant
[Communio] Ecce virgo concipiet
anonymous
Ite missa est
Josquin Desprez
Ora pro nobis a 4
Inviolata, integra, et casta es Maria a 5
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